mr. palazzo: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this act. i want to thank chairman shuster, congressman denham and the entire transportation infrastructure committee for their work to bring this very important piece of disaster relief reform legislation to the floor this week. last tuesday i had the opportunity to travel to the hardest-hit areas of new york and new jersey to see firsthand the damage caused by hurricane san joaquin -- sandy. it immediately reminded me of the devastation we in mississippi experienced after hurricane katrina just seven years ago. when you look at the response to hurricanes such as sandy and katrina and other superstorms that have hit in recent years, there is no doubt in my mind that we have a broken system. last week i took a vote against propping up a bankrupt and broken system without any serious reforms. and today i proudly stand before this body to advocate for some commonsense reforms on how we administer disaster relief. the sandy recovery improvement act of 2013 scheduled for consideration today is the

mr. palazzo >> he voted no to help the victims of hurricane sandy. >> jon: i know what you're thinking. the inventor of palazzo pants? a.k.a. john stewart's fat day pants? but no. he is the guy who just last year was still asking for, you guessed it, funding of the national flood insurance program for a storm that took place in his area over seven years ago. >> many of my constituents in mississippi are still dealing with the effects of hurricane katrina. they depend on the national flood insurance program. >> jon: oh, the flood insurance program you vetoed spending money to reimburse. here's a thought. let's pretend instead of your constituents in mississippi, it's someone else's constituents in new york. instead of seven years later it's two months later. instead of being an [bleep], you. look, republicans, i guess that you're the party of limited government. we're not talking about obama care here. this was two paragraphs giving aid to people in need. you guys couldn't bring yourself to vote for it because of some stupid principle you yourselves only occasionally live by. here's the

mr. palazzo: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in favor of the sandy relief package that's being considered today. i want to thank chairman rogers and the appropriations committee for their work to bring this bill to the floor in a responsible manner and address many of the concerns that some in this body had. i also want to take this opportunity once more to thank my colleagues for their work on yesterday's sandy relief improvement act that brought much-needed reforms for our disaster relief system. this bill that passed the house unanimously is a good first step in streamlining the disaster relief process and saving the country money and lives. these are the kinds of commonsense reforms that must continue to be a part of the disaster relief conversation. a little over a week ago i voted against adding more debt to a failing system without reforms. many might have colleagues joined me in that vote and i know some still have reservations about the package before the house today. i spoke in -- i've spoken to many of these co

mr. palazzo: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in favor of the sandy relief package that's being considered today. i want to thank chairman rogers and the appropriations committee for their work to bring this bill to the floor in a responsible manner and address many of the concerns that some in this body had. i also want to take this opportunity once more to thank my colleagues for their work on yesterday's sandy relief improvement act that brought much-needed reforms for our disaster relief system. this bill that passed the house unanimously is a good first step in streamlining the disaster relief process and saving the country money and lives. these are the kinds of commonsense reforms that must continue to be a part of the disaster relief conversation. a little over a week ago i voted against adding more debt to a failing system without reforms. many might have colleagues joined me in that vote and i know some still have reservations about the package before the house today. i spoke in -- i've spoken to many of these co

mr. palazzo: my district was devastated by the -- mr. pallone: my district was devastated by this hurricane. it's i think into the 10th week now since the storm occurred and really without this package passing today and then immediately going to the senate to be passed there as well and signed by the president, the whole effort to try to rebuild the shore in time for the summer season, the jobs, the tourism, the economy are related to that. would really be seriously jeopardized. i would urge that the -- my colleagues adopt not only the initial base bill, the rogers amendment, but also the frelinghuysen amendment, the frelinghuysen amendment, which is the additional $33 billion, would let us basically do a lot of the shore protection, the beach replenishment, the dunes, the flood controls to prevent damage from a future storm. and also provide the community development block grants, the grants that there's a lot of flexibility for the towns so they can go back and basically give grants to homeowners as well as small businesses. mr. speake